Intensity of rain to reduce in Mumbai this week, says IMD

Only a few spells of rain is expected on Tuesday, and there will be only light rain up to Sunday, the weather bureau said.

Mumbai is likely to see only light showers this week, the IMD has forecast. (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

The city has had heavy cloud cover all of Monday and up to Tuesday afternoon, but has seen very little rain.

Only a few spells of rain is expected on Tuesday, the weather bureau said.

The weather bureau said there was an absence of rain-bearing weather systems that could bring heavy rain in Mumbai. “The cloud cover is due to westerly winds carrying moisture from the sea, a common phenomenon during the monsoon. But since the upper air cyclonic circulation along south Gujarat is not there and the offshore trough from Maharashtra to Kerala has died down, rainfall activity is very less,” said Ajay Kumar, scientist, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Mumbai.

“As of now, a well-marked low pressure area over Jharkhand is giving heavy rain at various areas in Maharashtra except north Konkan, especially Mumbai. Even this system is likely to die down, leading to only light rain till Sunday,” he said.

On Monday, there were light intermittent showers (2.4mm rain) between 8.30am and 5.30pm in south Mumbai while negligible rain was recorded in the suburbs. South Konkan, Vidarbha and central Maharashtra received moderate to heavy rain.

A drop in rainfall activity led to rise in temperatures in the city. The day temperature at Colaba and Santacruz was 28.5 degrees Celsius, 1.7 degree Celsius above normal.

The night temperature was 27 degrees Celsius in the suburbs, 1.7 degrees Celsius above normal, and 25.8 degrees Celsius at south Mumbai, 0.8 degrees Celsius above normal. Moisture levels were less as compared to last week as Colaba recorded 86% humidity while Santacruz recorded 80%.